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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

How to Ship an Unframed Pastel Painting

'Windswept Meadow' 8x10 pastel ©Karen Margulis
$125 Purchase with paypal or check HERE

I've got my shipping down to a science. Since I have been a member of Daily Painters.com for 6 years and now Daily Paintworks, I have shipped many pastel paintings to their new homes. And the method I use has not failed me. My paintings arrive safe and sound. I only ship unframed paintings. If I ship a framed piece to a show I use an airfloat box. So what is my shipping method? I make a foamcore sandwich! Here's how I do it:

A painting all ready to ship safely wrapped in it's foamcore sandwich
  1. Cut the foamcore so that it is a few inches larger than the painting. I use a utility knife. I cut a double wide piece, score it in the middle so that it can fold shut.
  2. Tape painting inside the foamcore using white artist tape. I hinge the tape. See my post on hinging tape here.
  3. Cut a piece of glassine paper slightly larger than the painting and tape it down to cover the painting. I usually only tape two sides so the glassine can be lifted to view the painting. I get my glassine on rolls and cut it to fit. A roll lasts me a long time.
  4. Close the cover of the foamcore sandwich and tape shut. I have printed a label with instructions that I put on the foamcore (see below)
  5. I slip my foamcore sandwich into a clearbag that has a self adhesive strip. I include some business cards, a bio, pastel care information and a thank you card.
  6. I have just started to wrap the whole package in nice gift wrap with a handmade card.
The finished package with my information and business cards


The painting is all wrapped and ready to ship

The painting is now ready to be slipped into a padded envelope or Priority Mail box depending on it's size. If it is over 8x10 then I have to make my own box from a couple of Priority Mail boxes. I save my Dakota and Blick paper order boxes for shipping large paintings. I use USPS for all of my shipping and after shipping hundreds of paintings I have never had a problem (knocking on wood here!)

I hope that if you are an artist or a buyer you have found this post useful. I'd love for you to join this site or sign up for email updates (sign-up on the right)

21 comments:

Unknown said...

Great informative post Karen...thanks!

Karen said...

You're welcome! Glad it was helpful!

Bethany said...

Great process! I use a similar process for shipping my Oil Pastels, but am still learning! Thank you for sharing your method :)

Diane said...

Great post Karen! What a professional and beautiful way to package your work.

Dianne Hague said...

thank you for sharing your method. It looks simple and safe!

Karen said...

Thanks everyone for the comments! I'd love to learn other methods for shipping unframed work!

Carolyn Jean Thompson said...

Thank you for your experice Karen!

Anita Stoll said...

Thank you, thank you Karen. Up to now I have shipped my paintings covered with glasine paper and rolled up in a tube. I like your method better especially that you gift wrap it.

Karen said...

Thanks Anita. It has worked great for me!!

hmuxo said...

Thank you so much for this post, Karen..It was very informative. I have ruined a few paintings by not packing it correctly...

Deb Austin said...

I was trying to figure out how to send my grandson's portrait to California when I found your post. Thanks so much!!

Karen said...

Thank you Deb! I hope you'll come back often!

Karen Winters said...

Great tip, Karen, thank you for showing how you do it.

I often ship plein air panel oil paintings that are oversize for one priority mail box. I'd love to see a step by step of how you make oversize boxes out of existing priority mail ones, if you have a chance some time.

Thanks, Karen

Karen said...

Thanks Karen! I'd be happy to. Great idea for a new post! Look for it soon :)

Karen Winters said...

Thank you Karen ... I'll look forward to seeing it.

Karen

chummy's mum said...

Thank you so much for sharing this information! I had always wondered how one would safely ship a soft pastel painting. Your work is lovely!

KOMINICK-OUZOONIAN ART said...

can u substitute something different than clear bag...my piece is 16" x20"?

Karen said...

Diane I get several sizes of clear bags including ones for 16x20. Zip locks work but aren't archival or don't look as good!

Unknown said...

This was just what I needed! I create botanical illustrations and I've been looking for a better shipping method. This post was the best one I found for shipping any kind of delicate drawing.

For others, shipping a drawing sandwiched in cardboard is not enough, the post office can and will bend it.

Val said...

Hi Karen, thank you so much for sharing this information - I was so impressed with your beautiful work & the professional finishing touches to the gift wrapped package. I have to ship a large pastel painting 27" x 19" to US, can I get a self-seal bag that size?

Karen said...

Thank you Val, Yes you can! You can find a huge variety of sizes at www.clearbags.com I also sometimes yes two smaller bag and cut them down the side to fit then retake with clear packing tape.